Video language filtering based on user profile

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to video player devices intended to play a video content DSC including audio tracks forming a disc audio languages list DAL and/or subtitles forming a disc subtitle languages list DSL, in a given number of languages. According to the invention, said device comprises a user interface UIA enabling the user to define a list of interesting languages UPL and a memory MEM to store the list of interesting languages UPL. Said device can then generate a dynamic menu ATL, STL intended to be displayed by filtering of the languages list DAL, DSL of the audio tracks present on the disc in accordance with the list of interesting languages UPL. Said dynamic menu ATL, STL is such that languages of the list of interesting languages UPL have priority in the dynamic menu ATL, STL. The invention enables the user to make an easier choice of a language for video content including audio tracks and/or subtitles in many different languages.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a video player device at least intended to playa video content that includes audio tracks and/or subtitles in a givennumber N of languages, said number N being higher than 5. Said videocontent may, for example, be an optical disc published with manylanguages and subtitles. Such an optical disc is, for example, a DVD.The term ‘language’ is used in a generic way for audio tracks andsubtitles. The invention also relates to a dynamic menu generationmethod.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Such a video player device is known from document EP1158800. Thisdocument presents a device for playing video received from terrestrialTV, satellite TV, web TV including digital TV transmission, or videomedia such as cassette, CD and DVD. This device may thus be a set topbox or a TV receiver or video recorder, DVD or any optical disc (BluRay. . . ) player. If the user of the device likes to watch a video withthe audio track in a preferred language, a language menu can be providedon a display of the device. The language menu presents a list of severallanguage options to the user of the device, each of the several languageoptions representing audio translation data in a different language. Theuser can select a language option corresponding to the languagepreferred by the user from the language menu.

The device of the prior art thus proposes a language selection from afixed list of languages among which the user has to choose.

This method is also used for video derived from optical discs: a list oflanguages is displayed on a screen, this screen being, for example, thescreen of a TV linked to an optical disc reader device. This listbelongs to a menu that is stored on the optical disc itself or that isdetermined by the player device itself. There is no way of modifyingthis list as it has been laid down on the optical disc or in the device.

Optical discs are published with many audio tracks and subtitles. Thiscan make navigating through the list and switching between languagesvery tedious. Switching between audio tracks or subtitles by choosingprevious and next commands in a list of as many as 20 languages is verytedious if the two languages the user is switching between are, forexample, number 1 and 11 in the list. The list of languages may alsoinclude director's and actor's commentaries, and switching to theseaudio tracks and back to the original is a practical feature.

Thus, for example, DVD allows at most audio tracks in 8 languages, whichcan be switched between from a player menu or chosen from a menuauthored on the optical disc, for example e.g. a disc-based menu. Thechoice to limit the number of audio track languages in DVD to 8 was madein part because of the problem with choosing from a large list in theplayer menu or in the disc-based menu.

A language feature provided in DVD player devices allows the user toconfigure the player with a default language so that by default theplayer will choose the menus in this language, i. e. the audio track inthis language if available, or else the subtitle in this language. Themanufacturer of the device may also configure this language featureduring manufacture or just after according to the country where theplayer device is intended to be sold. With such a feature, when the userwants to change the language of the audio track and/or of the subtitles,the user has to return to the disc-based menus, which is time consumingand rather complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to propose an improvement inthe video player device to enable the user to have an easier and moreuser-friendly way of choosing a language of an audio track or of asubtitle for a video play.

To this end, the invention proposes a video player device as presentedin the introductive part, characterized in that it comprises a userinterface enabling the user to define a list of interesting languages, amemory for storing the list of interesting languages, and means forgenerating a dynamic menu intended to be displayed by filtering thelanguages of the audio tracks present on the disc in accordance with thelist of interesting languages, said dynamic menu being such thatlanguages of the list of interesting languages have priority in thedynamic menu.

The invention then allows the user to define a list of interestinglanguages; typically a user is only interested in a small number oflanguages understood by family and friends. Thus the choice isfacilitated as the user can choose directly from among interestinglanguages that are displayed in priority in the menu according to theinvention. Effectively, the user only sees the languages that havepriority when performing normal language/subtitle change operations.This ensures that normal user operation is not inhibited by the factthat the disc supports a large selection of languages.

In an advantageous embodiment, the dynamic menu is a player menu wherethe languages of the list of interesting languages in which audio tracksare present on the disc are displayed at the beginning of the dynamicmenu. A player menu according to the invention enables the user toreturn very easily to the dynamic menu while watching the video withouthaving to return to the disc-based menu. For example, only the languagesof the list of interesting languages are listed in the dynamic menu.Thus, the player device filters the languages present among the audiotracks on the disc or in the video stream and only displays the chosenlanguages in the menu for switching languages during playback.Therefore, if the remote control allows to navigate through the menu, itwill allow choosing previous next audio tracks among the filtered list.Therefore, the priority is given to the interesting languages in thatthese languages only are listed.

In a preferred embodiment, the dynamic menu is a disc-based menu whereina list of languages stored in the disc-based menu is reorganized beforedisplay in order to display the list of interesting languages inpriority. Thus even if the user does not use the player menu but thedisc-based menu, for example at the beginning of the reading of thedisc, the choice will be easier in a device implementing the invention.Even the disc-based menus are thus customized according to theinvention.

The invention also relates to a method of generating a dynamic menu thatis advantageously implemented in a video player device of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is described hereafter in detail with reference to thediagrammatic Figures wherein:

FIG. 1 presents a schematic representation of a device according to theinvention;

FIG. 2 depicts the user interface according to the invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates the functioning of the invention for audio tracks;

FIG. 4 illustrates the functioning of the invention for subtitles;

FIG. 5 presents an example of a dynamic menu obtained according to theinvention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram depicting the generation of the dynamicmenu according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows a video player device DEV according to the invention.According to the specific example shown in FIG. 1, the video playerdevice DEV is an optical disc DSC reader device including an opticalhead OH for reading data DAT on the optical disc. Said optical disc isread by said optical head OH and provides data DAT, i. e. video signals,to a data processor DAP. This specific example is only given as anillustration of the invention and does not exclude any other videoplayer devices DEV receiving video signals from a source other than anoptical disc. The essential feature of the video signals DAT processedby the video player device DEV is that the video is received withseveral audio tracks or several subtitles in different languages withinthe digital video signals DAT. Said video player device DEV is linked todisplay means DIS and to audio means, for example a loudspeaker LSP. Inthis example, the display means DIS and the loudspeaker LSP areseparated from the video player device DEV but this does not exclude thecase where one of them or both are integrated within the video playerdevice DEV itself. For example, it would be the case in a TV listincluding integrated features for playing video.

Video signals DAT provided to the data processor DAP include audio dataADA and video data VDA. These different data are each sent to dedicatedmodules. Video data VDA are sent to a video module VIM and audio dataADA are sent to an audio module AUM. Said audio module AUM is incommunication with said display means DIS and said audio means LSP. Saidaudio module AUM comprises at least a memory MEM for the purpose of theinvention. Said memory MEM is a non-volatile memory. Said audio moduleAUM also comprises software for performing the essential functions ofthe invention: a user interface enabling the user to define a list ofinteresting languages and means for generating a dynamic menu intendedto be displayed.

FIG. 2 depicts a user interface according to the invention. Such a userinterface is realized by a display on display means DIS and controlledby software implemented in the video player device. The user can controlthis user interface by mean of buttons on the video player device or bymeans of a remote control. FIG. 2 depicts what is displayed on thescreen of the display means DIS. In this example, the video playerdevice DEV proposes the user to list four languages so as to define alist of interesting languages. A scrolling menu presented for eachlanguage, from language 1 to language 4, can be controlled by previousand next commands or in alphabetical order, the different letters being,for example, called by pressing a number on the remote control. The listof four languages is stored in the non-volatile memory MEM.

Advantageously, if the user chooses a language from outside the list ofinteresting languages, this language will be automatically added to thelist of languages that can be switched to from the player menu or fromthe disc-based menu. With such an automatic modification of said list ofinteresting languages, it is possible not to ask the user to define thelist of interesting languages. In this case, the video player devicelearns the list of interesting languages over time by the choices theuser makes for languages of audio tracks and subtitles when watchingvideo.

The user interface may also be less user-friendly and more implicit toan action of the user. It can be realized by the help of the disc itselfor of its package. Effectively, the list of interesting languages can bepressed on the disc in dependence where the disc is sold. This has thedrawback that making a world disc is prevented, because the informationhas to be pressed on the disc. Nevertheless setting a simple ‘countrycode’ in the authoring process can generate such list of interestinglanguages without changing anything else. This is not a problem as discsfor different countries are generally manufactured separately becauselabels usually include a local classification level. Another solution isto provide the disc with a chip. With such a user interface, a piece ofhardware may be necessary to implement the invention. For example, achip reader may be necessary in the latter user interface with a chipintegrated on the disc. Moreover, a piece of software needs to be addedto control this hardware if a piece of hardware is necessary and tointerpret the information that is read on the optical disc.

Another solution is to provide the package of the optical disc with abar code to be read by the player equipped with a bar code reader thatis a hardware part of the user interface. A 2-digit or 3-digit code mayalso be mentioned on the package to be entered on the remote control bythe user. In the latter two cases, a piece of software is againnecessary to process data from the user interface.

A solution specific to web-connected video player devices is that thewebsite associated with the disc sends the list of interesting languagesin order that the appropriate default list of interesting languages canbe downloaded. For this to work, the video player device includes meansfor sending the country/region information (or country code) on theuser's location to the website and, based on this region information,the website returns the default list for that country/region.

FIG. 3 illustrates the functioning of the invention for audio tracks.For example, the video content is derived from an optical disc thatcontains audio tracks in 25 languages, which list of 25 languages isreferred to as disc audio languages list DAL. The user has chosen fourlanguages that constitute the list of interesting languages UPL.According to the invention, the disc audio languages list DAL on theoptical disc is filtered in accordance with the list of interestinglanguages UPL. This filtering leads to the establishment of an audiotoggle list ATL of audio tracks that will have priority in a dynamicmenu for audio tracks, generated by a piece of software in this case.Then the filtering of the disc audio languages list DAL gives a togglelist including the list of interesting languages present as audio trackson the disc. If extra commentaries are present in one or severalinteresting languages on the disc, the audio tracks are listed alongwith the extra commentaries in the dynamic menu.

FIG. 4 illustrates the functioning of the invention for subtitles. Forexample the video content is derived from an optical disc that containssubtitles in 45 languages, which list of 45 languages is referred to asdisc subtitle languages list DSL. The user has chosen four languagesthat constitute the list of interesting languages UPL. According to theinvention, the disc subtitle languages list DSL on the optical disc isfiltered in accordance with the list of interesting languages UPL. Thisfiltering leads to the establishment of a subtitle toggle list STL ofsubtitles that will have priority in a dynamic menu for subtitles,generated by a piece of software in this case. The filtering may alsoinclude commentaries as subtitles, so the user can listen to theoriginal audio track while the commentary is shown as subtitles.

FIG. 5 presents an example of a dynamic menu obtained according to afirst implementation of the invention. Such a dynamic menu showslanguages resulting from filtering in FIG. 3 and a button allowingaccess to further languages. In this example, each audio track can beplayed by the video player device according to two standards: stereo andDolby 5.1. Here, the first language ‘English stereo’ is highlighted. Fora user having different preferences, this language dynamic menu willcontain different languages but a similar layout. The choice ofdirector's commentary and actor's commentary listed after the threefirst languages may advantageously be listed at the beginning of thelist displayed upon pressing of the button giving access to ‘otherlanguages’. Therefore, the filtering according to the invention does notlimit the user's possibilities as it is always possible to chooseanother language from outside the list of interesting languages.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram depicting the method of generating of thedynamic menu according to the invention. It is also a schematic diagramshowing the functioning of the invention. A first step UIA of acquiringa list of interesting languages UPL is realized. A user interface aspresented hereinabove enables this acquisition. Then said list UPL ofinteresting languages is stored in a non-volatile memory MEM. The videocontent DSC that will be played by a video player device in which saidmethod is implemented includes audio tracks and/or subtitles in a givennumber N of languages that constitute a disc audio languages list DALand a disc subtitle languages list DSL. In this example, each languageof the disc audio languages list DAL or of the disc subtitle languageslist is then represented by a number n as, for example, presented inFIGS. 3 or 4. According to FIGS. 3 or 4, n=1 thus corresponds toEnglish. A step TST of comparing each language n of said disc audiolanguages list DAL with a list of interesting languages UPL stored in amemory MEM is thus realized according to a method of the invention. Thena step LST of listing the language n in the dynamic menu is realized ifsaid language n is equal to one of the languages in said list ofinteresting languages UPL. If said language n is not present in saidlist of interesting languages UPL, n is incremented (n=n+1) in order tostart the steps of the method for another language. At last, a step ORDof ordering the languages listed in the dynamic menu according to theorder in the list of interesting languages UPL is realized. An audio orsubtitle toggle list ATL or STL as presented in FIGS. 3 and 4 is thenobtained according to the invention. This toggle list is then displayedas the dynamic menu. Said obtained dynamic menu is such that languagesof the list of interesting languages have priority in the dynamic menu.

In optical disc players it is possible to use the list of interestinglanguages twice, as there are two different kinds of menu: player menusand disc-based menus. Effectively, once the list of interestinglanguages is defined, the player can use this list of interestinglanguages in two different ways, i. e. in order to be useful for theplayer menu in switching languages during playback and for thedisc-based menus.

The player menu for switching languages during playback is generated bythe video player device itself externally to the optical disc. Thisplayer menu is not read on the disc for display but displayed by thevideo player device with only the knowledge of the list of languagespresent on the optical disc. Then, according to the invention, theplayer filters the list of languages present on the disc against thelist of interesting languages. The player device only displays theselanguages, along with any extra commentaries, in the player menu. If thelanguage of the extra commentaries is not included in the list ofinteresting languages, it may optionally be suppressed (unlessappropriate subtitles are available). If the remote control allowschoosing previous and next audio tracks by pressing number keys orprevious and next keys, then this will only apply to the filtered list.In this player menu, the result of the filtering is the list oflanguages from the disc that the user may potentially be interested inalong with extra commentaries that may possibly be listed on the samepage or at the beginning of a second page accessed by choosing ‘otherlanguages’ in the dynamic menu presented in FIG. 5. This makes it easyfor the user to call up extra commentaries in a preferred language whilewatching the video.

Disc-based menus are generally only read on the disc and displayeddirectly without any processing. According to the invention, thedisc-based menus are organized in order to reflect the list ofinteresting languages chosen by the user. This menu from the opticaldisc allows to choose the audio track or subtitle. It is presentedaccording to the invention such that the list of interesting languagesis presented first in the menu or else on a first page with a link tothe second page. In this case the menu from the disc is also a dynamicmenu as described hereinabove.

Presented Figures are illustrative of special embodiments of theinvention and are not restrictive. It will be apparent to those skilledin the art that many modifications and variations may be made to theexemplary embodiments of the present invention list set forth abovewithout departing substantially from the principles of the presentinvention. For example, the present invention may be used with anyoptical record carrier of any format. All such modifications andvariations are deemed to be included herein.

1. A video player device intended to play a video content that includesaudio tracks and/or subtitles in a given number N of languages, saidnumber N being higher than 5, comprising: a user interface enabling theuser to define a list of interesting languages, a memory for storing thelist of interesting languages, and means for generating a dynamic menuintended to be displayed by filtering the languages of the audio trackspresent on the disc in accordance with the list of interestinglanguages, said dynamic menu being such that languages of the list ofinteresting languages have priority in the dynamic menu.
 2. A videoplayer according to claim 1, wherein the dynamic menu is a player menudisplaying the languages of the list of interesting languages in whichaudio tracks are present on the disc at the beginning of the dynamicmenu.
 3. A video player according to claim 2, wherein said player menuonly includes the list of interesting languages, other languages beingonly accessible from a disc-based menu.
 4. A video player according toclaim 1, wherein the dynamic menu is a disc- based menu in which a listof languages stored in the disc based menu is reorganized before displayin order to display the list of interesting languages in a priorityorder.
 5. A method of generating a dynamic menu intended to be displayedon display means for enabling a user to easily choose a language from alist of languages in which audio tracks for a video are provided withina video content, said method includes: a step of acquiring a list ofinteresting languages, a step of storing said list of interestinglanguages in a memory, a step of comparing each language of said list oflanguages with said list of interesting languages, a step of listingsaid language in the dynamic menu if said language is equal to one ofthe languages in said list of interesting languages, a step of orderingthe languages listed in the dynamic menu in accordance with the order inwhich they appear in the list of interesting languages.